Tioga County

CONCERT HALL IS LATEST BOOST FOR TIOGA COUNTY:

Tioga County businessman George Swansbrough spent one year and more than $1 million to buy an old foundry and turn it into a 4,600-seat music hall set to open at the end of the month.

Call it his new hobby.

Until now, Swansbrough's pastime has been drag racing. In 2004, he opened Skyview Drags in Tioga Center.

But he wanted something more -- something for the "working man" to do on his time off, he said.

"What would I like?" Swansborough asked rhetorically. The answer was a quality music venue.

So, in March 2005, he paid $960,000 at auction to buy the old foundry property at the corner of Broad Street Extension and William Donnelly Industrial Parkway from the county.

And on April 28 and 29, his Upstate Music Center will make its debut with a grand opening.
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A variety of musical genres eventually will play there, but opening weekend will feature mostly country western music, including singers Joe Diffie, Ricochet and Matt Mason. The music hall is the first significant development to bubble up in western Tioga since news that Tioga Downs Racino will open in May in Nichols, about 5 miles east of Waverly.

"The music hall is going to be a wonderful boost for Waverly, the Southern Tier and Tioga County," said Tioga County Legislator Martha Sauerbrey, R-Owego, president and CEO of the Tioga County Chamber of Commerce.
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Along with 4,600 movie-theater-style seats, the music hall has an 80-by-35-foot stage, a 30,000-watt sound system, a "jam room" for entertainers, an autograph area, food and beverage concessions, and 54 bathrooms.

By comparison, the Forum in Binghamton has seating for 1,519.

Upstate Music Center's location, a 37-acre plot in an industrial park, is ideal for a music hall and a 1,400-car parking lot, Swansbrough said. Major thoroughfares, including routes 17 and 17C, are a few hundred feet away. In addition to the racino, the music hall will be near the soon-to-open Two Rivers State Park in Waverly.